The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) was inaugurated in Minna by Alh. Yahaya S. Dangana in 1988. ANA enjoys a premier status for being the oldest literary art organisation in modern dispensation. It was formed in 1981 when Chinua Achebe and writers like Abubakar Imam, Mamman Jiya Vatsa came together to inaugurate it. ANA has branches in about thirty states in Nigeria.
The Niger State branch is one of the oldest in the country and have had a glorious outing at the national body. Niger’s meritorious participation started when her son, Mamman Jiya Vatsa hosted the annual convention of the Association in 1985 and donated a 65 hectres of land to the group to build her national writers village in Abuja. It has been built and it is currently, the biggest in Africa, and named Mamman Jiya Vatsa Writers Village.
The Late Abubakar Gimba was a president of the Association who reclaimed the land after revocation, BM Dzukogi was one time the National Secretary while Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad and Alkasim Abdulkadir served as National Assistant Secretaries at different times. Some members of the state branch have served in different positions, as well.
The Nigerian Writers Series established by the National body in 2011 was a brain-child of BM Dzukogi as well as the National Teen Authorship Scheme operated there. The Niger branch sponsored a national anthology of teen authors during the administration of Gov. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu through the donation of N1m by his wife, Babangida Aliyu also donated N10m for ANA to commence the Nigerian Writers Series which was another programme of BM Dzukogi as the National Secretary. So, writers in Niger State have paid their dues to the national ANA.
In the past ANA was the only literary organisation available to writers in Niger State until Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation arrived in 2004.
One major contribution of ANA Niger to the development of literature in Nigeria is the trigger or the ignition to literary art festivals in the country. Some organisations call theirs ‘Book and Art Festival’. In 1995, ANA Niger inaugurated a “Literary Expo”, which became “Annual Schools Carnival of Arts and Festival of Songs (ASCAFS) in 1996. It was a carnival of arts that drew Governors, Emirs, Politicians, Students, Parents, School administrators, Lecturers, Writers, Performers, Dancers, and Civil Servants to UK Bello Arts Theatre for the art festival.
Today, ANA’s influence in Niger has dwindled because of the prevalence of contemporary art organisations giving more attraction to young artists.
